Meet Our Director

Introducing Brooks Fahy, a man with one mission—ending America’s tragic and wasteful war on wildlife

Photo of Rep. Peter DeFazio and Brooks Fahy

Brooks Fahy (right) has been working
with Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) since
1990 to get Congress to investigate
and hold hearings on the barbaric,
unaccountable and inhumane agency
within the USDA misnamed “Wildlife
Services."

Photo of Brooks rescuing whale in 1974

The earlier years. Brooks (left)
during 1974 rescue of a baby
pygmy sperm whale.

Photo of bobcat caught in snare

Brooks has devoted his life to
rescuing animals and protecting
wildlife and people from the
barbaric and toxic devices used in
lethal predator control programs.
In 2012 he freed this bobcat,
trapped in a strangling snare

set illegally on private property.



Since co-founding Predator Defense, a national wildlife advocacy nonprofit in Eugene, Oregon in 1990, Brooks Fahy has worked tirelessly to expose America’s ill-advised, hazardous, and tax-dollar-wasting “war on wildlife” to a worldwide audience.

Brooks has released over a dozen short films since 2010 and been featured in documentaries on Turner Broadcasting Network and Animal Planet. He has been repeatedly interviewed for major media outlets like BBC, CNN, Fox News, TIME Magazine, The Guardian, The New York Times, and more. Brooks' work has even been recognized by Jane Goodall, who wants millions to see his groundbreaking, whistleblowing film, "EXPOSED: USDA’s Secret War on Wildlife."

From the start Brooks had a passion for hands-on work. He started his first environmental organization when he was just 10 years old, which quickly evolved into rescuing species like sea birds, snakes, alligators, and loggerhead turtles. Too impatient to learn everything sitting in a classroom, he developed his skills working hands-on at zoos, exotic animal sanctuaries, and wildlife hospitals. He was also mentored by several preeminent wildlife ecologists on the complex relationships between predators and prey.

For the last 30 years Brooks’ efforts have been directed at documenting and exposing the dangers wildlife, people and pets face as a result of the USDA Wildlife Services’ lethal methods for “controlling” native predators (e.g., cougars, coyotes, foxes, wolves, bobcats and bears) using poisons, traps and snares. Brooks has spent extensive time investigating Wildlife Services, documenting atrocities while working in the field with former Wildlife Services trappers and law enforcement agencies.

He has also helped individuals and families deal with the legal and emotional aftermath of first-hand exposure, which often includes pet deaths and injuries, danger to family members, and long-term health problems. Predator Defense has documented more of these incidents than any other organization, and has brought the victims’ personal stories to the attention of law enforcement agencies, legislators, and the national media.

Brooks has also run two separate wildlife hospitals set up to rescue, treat and rehabilitate predator species that were trapped, poisoned, injured, or orphaned.

This hands-on experience has given him extraordinary insight; combined with his investigations of Wildlife Services’ renegade behavior, it provides him with a unique view into a secret world the general public rarely sees. Brooks has repeatedly discovered Wildlife Services violating their own directives, state and federal laws and has seen first-hand that their killing of coyotes, wolves and other predators seriously harms ecosystems.

The senseless slaughter of native species, wasted taxpayers funds, and risk to domestic animals and the public makes reform of Wildlife Services Brooks’ top priority.

Learn more and help Brooks end America's war on wildife.